Microsoft has given GeoHot, a notorious hardware hacker that has hacked the Playstation 3, permission and a Windows Phone 7 to go ahead and try to jailbreak the phone without any legal repercussions. This is good news towards enabling hobbyists to do what they do best. I have seen some major innovations come from the hobby scene, which rivals anything that has come from the larger companies. Take XBMC for example. People wanted media center capabilities in their Xbox, and it happened. Several years later, the Xbox 360 was introduced with the functionality.

Microsoft has been responding well to hackers recently, initially they wanted to press charges against the Kinect hackers but quickly changed their minds. They are now supporting Windows Phone 7 hackers as well, maybe they have finally decided that it may be more beneficial to everyone to help foster innovation in their devices rather than fight it.